Good practices for maintaining the functional independence of prosecutors investigating high-profile cases were the focus of a study visit to Oslo by a group of prosecutors from Eastern European countries. The two-day visit organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) concluded on 15 May 2018.

Six participants, representing the prosecution services of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, and two ODIHR representatives met with Norwegian prosecutors and experts to discuss conditions that need to be in place to allow prosecutors to carry out their work without undue interference.

“In the discussion about the independence of the judiciary, it is common to focus attention on judges, even though the functional independence of prosecutors is an equally important factor,” said Ghenadie Barba, Chief of ODIHR’s Rule of Law Unit. “Prosecutors need to be able to investigate independently and to perform their duties free from external pressure or interference, including in high-profile cases.”

The study group met representatives of the Norwegian Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and of Økokrim, the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime. Meetings with lecturers and experts from the University of Oslo and the University of Bergen were also part of the study visit.

The discussions explored guarantees of functional prosecutorial independence in law and in practice and how these are reflected in Norway’s code of ethics, work instructions and training for prosecutors. The effects of institutional culture on the work of the prosecution service were also discussed.

The study visit took place within the project Strengthening the Independence of Prosecutors in Eastern Partnership Countries, which is being implemented by ODIHR this year with funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers. Experiences from the visit will feed into a needs assessment report on functional independence of prosecutors in Eastern Europe, to be published by ODIHR at the end of the year.